JP2007160110A - Hemodialysis salt container with ventilation - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a hemodialysis salt container with ventilation. <P>SOLUTION: In a rigid hemodialysis salt container of plastic material including a venting valve 4 formed in a container wall with a venting opening extending through the container wall, a seal member covers the venting opening at the inside of the container wall and is connected to the container wall by cementing or welding such that, with the occurrence of a predetermined pressure difference between ambient air pressure and a vacuum generated in the container, the seal member is at least locally ripped off. The venting opening has a small cross-section and the cementing or welding area of the seal member with the container wall is disposed at a distinct radial distance from the venting opening. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a plastic hemodialysis salt container.

  Such a container is a unidirectional device containing the amount of bicarbonate required for hemodialysis operation and can be connected to the dialysis device by means of coupling in use. After the connection, the dialyzer circulates the dialysate through the salt container to absorb the salts.

  Such a salt container consists of, for example, a flexible bag as shown in International Publication No. WO 99/06083 A1, German Patent DE 696 16 073 T2, and also, for example, European Patent Publication No. EP 0 112 295. A rigid container as shown in No. A2 is known.

  At the end of the operation, the dialyzer draws dialysate from the salt container. When the salt container is a flexible bag, there is no problem because the bag is compressed by the vacuum generated inside. Rigid containers having certain advantages over flexible bags are problematic because they cannot be crushed. As a result, some dialysate that cannot be aspirated remains.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a rigid hemodialysis salt container that does not have a problem due to a vacuum generated by a dialysis apparatus even if it is empty.

  This object is solved by the configuration of the present invention as set forth in claim 1. Preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the dependent claims.

  According to the present invention, the rigid salt container is provided with a vent valve that is low in installation cost and does not protrude.

  1 and 2 show a rigid salt container having a bottom 1, a cover 2 and a coaxial plug-and-couple means on the cover 2. All these parts are evident from the cross-sectional view of FIG. The top view of FIG. 1 shows only the bottom 1 with the cover removed. The contents of the salt are not shown. After filling with salt and making it ready for use, the cover 2 is welded to the bottom 1 of the salt container.

  The configurations of the bottom, the cover and the coaxial plug coupling means are well known and will not be described in detail.

  The bottom 1 is provided with a vent valve 4 on its wall, which is connected to the dialyzer by allowing ambient air to flow into the vacuum container when the dialysate is drawn from the container. This makes it easy to drain the contents of the salt from the salt container and completely empty the container.

  It is important that such vent valves for unidirectional salt containers are easy to manufacture, low in cost, and reliable in operation.

  As is apparent from FIG. 3, the vent valve 4 includes an opening 41 formed in the wall of the bottom portion 1 and a sealing member 42 provided inside the bottom wall so as to close the opening 41. As shown in FIG. 1, the sealing member is formed of a foil that is bonded or welded to the bottom wall by an ultrasonic wave circumferentially around the opening 41. In FIG. 1, the annular fixing region is indicated by cross hatching.

  The sealing member 42 is not only fixed by bonding or welding, but also during operation of the salt container that allows bicarbonate to be absorbed by flowing dialysate through the salt container, due to the pressure in the salt container applied to the vent opening 42. It is in a pressure sealed state. However, when the dialysate is sucked out of the container, a vacuum is generated in the salt container. When the vacuum state in the salt container reaches a certain threshold value, the sealing member 42 is automatically removed from the bottom wall by the surrounding air pressure applied to the sealing member through the vent opening 41 as shown in FIGS. Therefore, the ambient air flows into the container through the vent valve 41, and the liquid can be completely sucked out of the container.

  6 and 7 and FIGS. 8 and 9 similar to FIGS. 1 and 3 show a modification of the vent valve 4. Each of these variations is provided with a thick wall region 43 at the bottom 1, which is slightly raised upward to fit the sealing member 42. This thick wall region 43 bulging from the surface of the bottom wall is provided with a channel-shaped recess 44 (see FIGS. 6 and 7) or 45 (see FIGS. 8 and 9), which are implemented in FIGS. In the example, it is in the form of one longitudinal groove and several transverse grooves, and in the embodiment of FIGS. The raised areas around these recesses are shown in FIGS. 6 and 8 by cross-hatching, but these surface areas together with the sealing member 42 form a bonded or welded surface area.

  In the embodiment according to FIGS. 1 to 5, the sealing member 42 needs to be glued or welded to the bottom wall in a local annular region that is a certain distance away from the vent opening 41. Thus, the bonding or welding area must be small enough so that at least one location can be torn off with a certain degree of certain vacuum. Furthermore, the area of the sealing member that receives the ambient pressure must be larger than the cross-sectional area of the vent opening 41. 6 and 7 and FIGS. 8 and 9 have the advantage that the sealing member 42 can be glued or welded over the entire raised region 43 of the bottom wall. No special measurement is required to bring the adhesion or weld surface area to a predetermined value. The reason is that the area of the sealing member 42 exposed to the surrounding air pressure is sufficiently large due to the recess 44 or 45, and the adhesion or welding surface area is sufficiently small, so that the inside of the salt container is in an appropriate vacuum state. This is because the sealing member is peeled off at least locally.

  According to the configuration of the present invention, since it is in a state of being closed with high reliability until the start of ventilation, it is easy to manufacture, has no moving parts, and does not protrude into the container. For example, salts that are contents during transportation or handling If the salt container is exposed to vibration or the salt container is washed out with the dialysate, a vent valve is formed which is not adversely affected and is not affected when the container is filled with salt.

  For those skilled in the art, it is clear that this vent valve 4 can be provided anywhere on the wall of the container, i.e. it may be provided on the cover 2 instead of on the bottom 1 of the container. Since the location of the vent valve is selected according to the direction of the salt container in use when it is coupled to the dialysis machine, the vent valve may be arranged as far as possible from the upper end of the container in use of the salt container. It is clear.

1 is a top view of a rigid salt container according to the present invention with the cover removed. FIG. It is longitudinal direction sectional drawing of the container which shows a sealing member in a sealing position. FIG. 3 is an enlarged view showing the sealing region of FIG. 2 in a state where the sealing member is closed. FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view similar to FIG. 2 with the sealing member being opened. FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the sealing region of FIG. 4 with the sealing member being opened. A modification similar to FIG. 1 is shown. It is an enlarged view similar to FIG. 3 which shows the modification of FIG. It is an enlarged view similar to FIG. 1 which shows another modification. It is an enlarged view similar to FIG. 3 which shows the modification of FIG.

Claims (5)

A hemodialysis salt container (1, 2) comprising a rigid unidirectional container provided with coupling means (3) for fluid connection to a dialysis machine and sealed in an airtight state except when connected;
The ventilation valve (4) has a ventilation opening (41) formed in the wall of the container, and a sealing member that is locally bonded or welded to the container and covers the ventilation opening inside the container ( 42), the bond or weld is large enough to open the sealing member at least locally when the pressure difference between the ambient air pressure and the vacuum generated by the dialyzer inside the container reaches a certain value. A salt container for hemodialysis characterized by the above.   The vent opening (41) has a small cross-sectional area, and the adhesion or welding area between the sealing member (42) and the container wall is at a specific radial distance from the vent opening (41). Salt containers.   In the region of the vent opening (41) on the inner side of the container wall, recesses (44, 45) communicating with the vent opening (41) are provided, and the sealing member (42) is provided with the recess (44, 45). 45. A salt container according to claim 1 which is glued or welded to the container wall along the surface area of the wall surrounding 45).   4. The salt container according to claim 3, wherein the recesses (44, 45) are formed to have a flat, star-shaped groove or another geometrically shaped groove around the vent opening (41).   The salt container according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a thick wall region protruding toward the inside of the container is provided in a region of the container wall corresponding to the sealing member (42).

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